As Hurricane Milton takes aim at Florida just days after Hurricane Helene, Catholic Charities USA has launched a dedicated disaster relief donation campaign.
CCUSA — the official domestic relief agency of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and a member of Caritas Internationalis, the church’s global network of humanitarian outreaches — announced the fund Oct. 9, as the Category 4 Milton churned across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour. Milton has fluctuated in intensity and was rated a Category 5 twice, but it dipped to Category 4 midday Oct. 9.
Donations to the CCUSA relief fund can be made on the agency’s website at ccusa.online/milton; by texting MILTON to 20406; or by mailing checks to CCUSA at 2050 Ballenger Ave, Suite 400, Alexandria, Virginia, 22314. Information about additional ways to give can be obtained by contacting CCUSA at (800) 919-9338 or donations@catholiccharitiesusa.org.
President Joe Biden — who approved requests for federal emergency declarations from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Marcellus W. Osceola Jr., chair of the Seminole Tribe of Florida — canceled his upcoming trips to Germany and Angola due to the expected impact of the hurricane. Following a briefing, Biden said Milton “is looking like the storm of the century,” urging residents to evacuate as “literally a matter of life and death.”
In its Oct. 9 announcement, CCUSA said that “one hundred percent of all funds raised will be allocated to local Catholic Charities agencies, which will provide critical relief — including shelter, food and other humanitarian aid — to displaced and suffering members of their communities.”
“Our brothers and sisters urgently need our prayers and our support as Hurricane Milton brings life-threatening conditions to Florida communities, some of which are still reeling from Hurricane Helene,” CCUSA president and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson said.
So far, CCUSA has distributed more than $1.9 million to Catholic Charities agencies in states affected by Hurricane Helene, and the agency said it “will stand by these communities through the long-term recovery.
The agency said it responds to more than 60 disasters every year, ranging from hurricanes and tornadoes to fires and floods.
